On our long-weekend in Melbourne, my friend Jane and I took the plane from Canberra to meet another friend Sandy. As we were landing I had lovely views of the countryside. I don’t know what the yellow fields were but they were stunning.We stayed at an apartment in the centre of Melbourne which was ideally located for walking around the city and we also had a nice little coffee/pastry shop next door along with views of the nearby buildings which looked so much better in the evening.One day we decided to walk to from our apartment to a nearby suburb to visit some local markets. As it was an hour walk we decided to wear our exercise clothing….a little later in the afternoon we wished we hadn’t…but more on that later.

We walked past some interesting buildings along the way; one with a huge naked baby on the front [little strange], some nice churches and lovely entranceways.We finally found the markets which were nearby a beautiful purple wisteria tree that covered the entire front and side of a building. We bought some lovely smelling candles and other small gifts and then then decided to walk back to our apartment and on the way stop at a couple of local bars or pubs for a glass of wine.Our first was a very interesting bar, plants on the roof, huge paintings on the walls and bright and colourful lights throughout. We sat at a gorgeous velvet covered lounge and enjoyed a glass of wine before we head off to our next stop.We then walked for about half an hour until we found our next location and along the way we also saw some great local artwork along the street; this is definitely a real funky suburb with fabulous shops.I even saw a print in a second hand shop, that my mum used to have in our home when we lived in Wales [all those many years ago].We walked past an amazing bar and we all wanted to stop here but unfortunately we couldn’t as it wasn’t yet open but the owner was very happy for us to take a look around…bright pink walls, gold framed pictures, velvet chairs and settees and mood lighting. The owner told us it’s best to book a table if we wanted to return as it’s always booked out each night.Our next stop was a local pub; not that interesting inside but good for people watching. We had a mineral water at this place followed by a glass of wine.After we left this pub, we thought we would walk straight to the apartment to rest up before going out to dinner. However we walked past the Sofitel Hotel and Jane mentioned to us that the bar was very good. I really didn’t want to go as we were in our exercise clothes but the girls said it didn’t matter [it did]…

I think the bar was on the 42nd floor from memory and when we arrived it was about 4pm and there was a table of beautifully dressed people drinking champagne. We thought they had been to a wedding and were waiting for the reception. We sat next to them and apologised to the waiter for our choice of clothing [he didn’t care].

We ordered some snacks [because they sounded great although we already had eaten] and a glass of wine. Jane’s funny story of the day was going to the bathroom and seeing one of the ladies from the table near us and thought her dress was beautiful, so said “I love your dress, you look beautiful’ to which the lady said she was appreciative then Jane said to her [mindful she is in exercise gear] ‘bet you are thinking the same thing about me’ … the lady had a good laugh…as did we when we were told the story.

Jane said the bathrooms in the Sofitel are gorgeous; they have views overlooking the city – guess five star hotels can afford to have this.

What a lovely description of your day out, it was so funny reading about wearing the fitness clothes in the Sofitel bar. It made me laugh whilst tucking into scrambled eggs on toast for a late breakfast in a nice pub with my husband and older son. M.

Such beautiful sights and many interesting stories to share, Sue. Exercise clothing goes fairly well in most settings except as approaching dinner hour and later. . .
The last photo and the church were my favorites! I also liked the comparison of day and agree night cityscape looked stunning! (and better than the day one, although pretty clouds.) Smiles, Robin

Haha. Exercise clothing in the Sofitel! Considering that’s a 5 star, I’m surprised they let you in. 🙂 It sounds like you had a great day. I spent a whole day in Fitzroy going from cafe to cafe (I had a list) and photographing the street art. So much to see there.

Did you go to Lune Croissanterie in Fitzroy? – described by the New York times as the best croissants in the world. Also try Naked for Satan next time you’re in Fitzroy.